APPROACH

A true definition of home is complex. Home is a container for things and for the mind. It is an expression of the self and a screen between the private and public world. A home represents our greatest investments of time, money, and effort. Good architecture recognizes this complexity. A good architect sees how to fit a space to a client’s vision of home and, at the same time, to leave room for the as-yet unimagined.

As an architect living in New York, Ben Fuqua has tuned his ears and eyes to the subtleties of how people interact with their space. An old bronze handle turns bright with use. The sound of leather soled shoes changes as one moves from the pavement, to the steps, over the threshold, then across a wood floor. Children like hooks more than hangers.

In a broader aesthetic sense, he understands that beauty is an embodiment of the viewer’s aspirations. He also knows the mechanisms required to realize that. He learned them through forming things with his hands and speaking with a pencil. Everything starts with listening and writing and drawing.